Chapter 1358: The Arboren's Struggles
Chapter 1358: The Arboren's Struggles
In the developing city-state of Eden, Saintess Selene stood above the roof of the church of Goddess Sylph, glancing into the skies with eyes filled with despair. A gigantic being with an aura that could only be called "utterly evil" was soaring above, as she saw her goddess and her father fighting it, trying to stop him from getting her and destroying everything and everyone.
"Goddess Sylphy...!" she muttered, as a few tears fell from her eyes. "Even until the last moment, you're fighting for us... I can't... I can't disappoint you either!"
She slammed the floor with her staff, her brilliant, magical powers reverberated as they expanded everywhere in the sky and the ground, the spiritual walls forged out of stone and wood surrounding Eden shook, fusing with her barrier and reinforcing it even further. "I must keep everyone protected... This is my duty... As the Saintess of the Arboren!" she muttered, gasping for air. "Hahhh... Hahhh... I was created for them, I was made because they desired a spiritual leader, they desired a saint, they wanted... someone to nurture and protect them beyond goddess Sylph. Someone that would always be there for them... This is my duty as the Saintess!"
Selene remembered the very reason of her existence, of why she was born within the farms of the Arboren, a fusion of their fruits, vegetables, and magical plants, her very soul was a miracle too, a creation of a developing power of the Goddess, the Civilization System.
"ROOOAARR!"
"SHAAAAH!"
"GRUOOHHH!"
The roars of the Demonic Beasts Allocer had summoned echoed across the valleys surrounding the Village of Eden, Selene was thankful the farms were placed inside the walls and not outside, or everything would have burned by the demonic flames by now!
CRASH! BOOOM! CLASH! RUMBLE! SCRATCH!
The Demonic Beasts kept attacking the barrier, trying to gnaw and slash at it, some tried to burn it and blast it with their demonic magic or their demonic breath, barely working, as tiny cracks could be seen sometimes, but were quickly healed by Selene's magic powers.
"Through her Blessing, Goddess' Sylph is directly giving me her Mana..." muttered Selene. "But it is very exhausting nonetheless, to constantly use so much mana... It puts such a huge strain on my soul-"
Crack!
"Uuagh!"
Her soul gained a small crack, making Selene scream in pain. What happened with Sylphy when overusing Mana was actually a problem with every soul and living being. Although it most of the time was impossible for them to ever suffer Mana Overload or Mana Pressure Damage, because every living being had their own internal mana pools, already shaped around their limits and what they could achieve...
When given a lot of Mana, their souls would be under great pressure, and so their bodies too. Overusing enormous quantities of Mana beyond a body's capacity would slowly diminish their internal defenses, and their souls would also suffer, gaining cracks that could lead to a soul shattering, which might cause sudden death on someone.
Selene was different than other living beings though, even different than most Arboren, or even Ivy and Bark. She was a chimeric amalgamation of countless magical plants fused together, a colony of sorts.
And although she had never revealed her true biology, her colony-like body possessed multiple souls which were connected together into a single being, her own soul.
One of her souls might have cracked, but so what?
"I have a hundred more..." she thought, smiling defiantly. "You'll have to break through all of them first before I ever let you harm my children!"
The Arboren warriors they have been training so far constantly fired arrows and magic spells at the monsters. But getting closer to Demonic beasts was off-limits and not allowed. They would immediately be burned to ashes if touched by their demonic flames after all. Selene was being cautious, letting them fight from afar.
However, since their first wave arrived that the Demonic Beasts had not lost a single member, the enchanted magic arrows given to them were not enough, the magic spells they used were not enough, their skin was as hard as mithril, and the beasts had endless vitality.
They were literally invincible in the eyes of the Arboren!
"What can we do?! We can't even pierce through their hard hide!"
"They're invincible...!"
"Our magic isn't even working properly!"
As the Arboren Soldiers despaired, a giant beast surged amidst the incoming second wave, enormous and draconic.
A Demonic Dragon Beast!
"ROOOAAAR!"
The enormous beast of over thirty meters roared, rushing into the barrier and striking it with all its body, shaking it tremendously with each blow.
ВАААМ!
ВАААМ!
ВАААМ!
"Ugh...! Agh!" Selene kept the barrier strong and sealed, but the pain she felt as the Mana she had to use in enormous quantities pressured over her combined souls made her groan. "Where could the others be at...? I was sure they were- Ah!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Selene's eyes widened as she saw a beautiful woman with long blue hair, a half dwarf, and half elf, soar above the skies and look down at the Demonic beasts.
"While my second body gets here, I better do my job well... But that damn true demon sure summoned a lot of them... Is there over a thousand already?" sighed Felicia. "Oh well,
whatever."
As she sat over her flying witch broom, she waved her staff, shaking the entire skies and the ground beneath.
"{Geomancy}: {Sky's Punishment}"
Using the very element of the atmosphere itself, the clouds, humidity, and lightning, giant black clouds loomed over the demonic beasts, as golden thunderbolts started falling
constantly!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The versatility of Geomancy, a branch of Alchemy, had never been this impressive before! Felicia was praised world-wide as a genius of Alchemy, and it showed right in this moment.
She utterly revolutionized what everyone thought Alchemy was, bringing forth a new era of Alchemists. To wield the elements of nature and synthetize them into spells, Geomancy, was one of her greatest feats!
"SHAAAHH!"
However, although a dozen Demonic Beasts had already died, most of them survived, being incredibly resistant to lightning.
"I've smoothened you enough" she smiled. "{Geomancy}: {Winter's Wrath}"
FLUOOOSH!